A new book offers decades of grassroots research and local history that easily could have been lost on computer hard drives and buried in filing cabinets.
Instead, Fort Benton resident Lorna Krause, retired Chouteau County Conservation District administrator, worked closely with the family of Highwood farmer Ron Long to make sure a piece of his life's work will be available for generations to come. A lifelong learner and community volunteer, Long passed away in 2021 at age 81 from injuries suffered in a tragic accident.
"One Man's Passion as a Steward of the Land: The Personal and Technical Writings of Ron Long on Saline Seep and Soil Acidity" is now on sale locally and online.
"Ron's love of learning was only surpassed by his desire to share his knowledge, hoping that others would 'benefit from some of the things I, or we, learned the hard way,'" states the book's foreword.
His daughter, Sarah (Long) Sundt, reached out to Krause to share a lengthy paper her dad had written, detailing his findings on how soil acidity led to poorer soil health and crops. She wanted to share the information with the Chouteau County Conservation District with the hope it could benefit other farmers.
Krause took the document to the CCCD Board and asked them to consider publishing it. They had some leftover National Association of Conservation Districts grant funding from another project and received permission to use it for the book, also chipping in CCCD funds.
Preparing to join her husband in retirement in 2022, Krause asked the board if she could continue working on the project, seeing it to completion. They agreed.
"I just felt this mission to fulfill his intention. It has been an absolute honor to me to be a part of his work – a small part," she said. "This book is very much Ron's. I just took Ron's message and built on it. ... I just wish that he were here to present it himself."
Long was born in Washington in 1940, but moved to Highwood with his parents at age 1, where they started farming on the Highwood Bench.
"I appreciate that my dad instilled in me a love for our resources, a passion to take care of them, and an investigative mind, hopefully to be used to figure how that might best be done," Long wrote.
Back in 2020, CCCD presented Long with a Lifetime Achievement Award. At the time, Krause asked him to share some thoughts and he presented her with 25 pages. Within that document, Long shared extensively about the Highwood Alkili Control Association – a grassroots group of locals who saw a problem and decided to team up and look for a solution.
They met around Fred Booth's kitchen table, trying to piece together why large, wet, white spots were appearing in fields. Thanks in large part to their efforts, 70 percent of the local land lost to saline seep was returned to production, Krause said.
Later on, Long encountered another farming challenge: a decline in soil health and crop production caused by soil acidity. Once again, he took on the role of researcher.
The book is filled with photos, from black and white pictures from Long's childhood to many color images he shot of local farmland, as well as illustrations and graphs.
Krause dug up records of CCCD's Outstanding Conservationist Award, listing every recipient from 1952 through 1996; Ron and Pat Long received the award in 1980.
"Along the way, there was just so much interesting history," she said.
She also managed to find a lost document Long had referenced in his writings about the history of the Highwood Alkali Control Association.
Krause gleaned photos and artwork by local artists from old CCCD newsletters – even a poem by Fort Benton farmer Tim Kalanick and a sketch by famed Fort Benton artist Brian Morger.
Although many of Long's writings shared in the book are technical in nature, he had a way of communicating that was approachable and accessible, even incorporating some humor amidst observations on saline seep or soil acidity.
Locals Camille Good and Kathy Nelson served as copy editors for the project, taking care to preserve Long's familiar voice in the writings.
"Those of us that knew him will feel like he is talking to us, because he writes like he talks," Krause said.
Krause's husband, Dale, a retired NRCS resource conservationist, served as the book's technical advisor and also wrote a glossary of terms. Their daughter, Lindsey, handled the book's graphic design.
The book is available from the Chouteau County Conservation District Office and other locations around the area.
"One Man's Passion as a Steward of the Land" can also be ordered online directly from the printer, BookBaby, and will be available on Amazon starting Nov. 8.
